EuropeGlobal warming and foodHot cuisineHow will climate change affect gastronomy?Farmers in southern Italy are cultivating avocados and mangos.Tropical creatures such as the rabbitfish are turning up in Mediterranean nets.And Bordeaux winemakers fret that their Merlot grapes may become extinct.Fifty years ago all this would have been unthinkable.But since the early 1980s rising temperatures have forced some farmers to swap grapes for passion fruit.Italy and France have long been proud of their cuisines.Both countries jealously guard the rules that say only ham made in Parma can be called “Prosciutto di Parma”, and only fizzy wine made in Champagne can be called champagne.Roquefort, that most celebrated of blue cheeses, was given special protection by the parliament of Toulouse in 1550.The fact of having been grown somewhere famous has traditionally been seen as a guarantee of quality.But climate change could upset that.Take polenta, a popular Italian dish consisting almost entirely of ground maize.High temperatures and drier weather have already reduced maize yields in southern Italy.If this pattern continues and spreads northwards, will Italian polenta-makers have to order their maize from elsewhere?
